Pavel Chekov
---- Pavel Andreievich Chekov (Russian Павел Андреевич Чехов) was a Human who served as a Starfleet officer during the latter half of the 23rd century. Although he mainly served as the Navigator aboard the USS Enterprise NCC 1701/A, he has had the most variable amount of positions than any other senior crewmember under Captain James T. Kirk. Early life Pavel Chekov, son of Andrei Chekov, was born in Russia on Earth in 2245. ( ) Pavel was an only child, however he once believed, while under the influence of the Beta XII-A entity, that he had a brother named Piotr who was killed by the Klingons. ( ) Career Starfleet Academy Around 2263, Chekov entered Starfleet Academy, from which he graduated with the rank of ensign. His Starfleet serial number was 656-5827D. ( ) During the early-2260s, Pavel was romantically involved with Irina Galliulin, while they both attended the Academy together. The two had several disagreements before they parted ways: Pavel believed Irina to always be too free-spirited, Irina believed Pavel to have always been rigid. When Irina dropped out of the Academy, each accused the one of leaving the other. Pavel left, but came back to look for Irina, who was at the time staying in the city with friends. Irina would eventually join the counterculture movement of Dr. Sevrin, and his search for the mythical planet Eden. ( ) The five-year mission Chekov's first assignment, at the age of 22, was on the under command of Captain James T. Kirk. He joined the crew sometime prior to 2267. , since Khan remembered meeting him, having recognized him when they encountered each other on Ceti Alpha V over fifteen years later, stating "I never forget a face..." ( ). This encounter must have occurred off-screen, as the character of Chekov had not yet joined the cast when that episode was filmed. However, Chekov would have likely been assigned to the Enterprise after the events of , as Chekov did not know Harry Mudd when the crew encountered him a second time in .}} Chekov served a standard junior officer rotation, eventually earning the post of navigator, although he was also proficient with the science officer station, often serving at the post in Spock's absence. While acting the role of science adviser, Chekov made every attempt to be as thorough as possible. While investigating a humanoid that could generate and control energy, who referred to himself as Apollo, in 2267, Chekov began to spout off information on similar creatures. After naming the electric eel and giant dry-worm, he was stopped by Dr. McCoy, who told him "not the whole encyclopedia, Chekov," later quipping on Chekov's dedicated thoroughness by stating: "Spock's contaminating this boy, Jim." ( ) After landing on a planet, the Enterprise s crew discovered Harcourt Fenton Mudd who had crashed on the planet. The planet was populated by androids who wished to use the Enterprise to visit other planets. The androids tempted Chekov with a planet full of beautiful women to serve him. In the end, the crew would band together and escape the planet, leaving Mudd with 500 android replicas of his overbearing wife. ( ) During an away mission to deliver supplies to an Earth colony on planet Gamma Hydra IV, the crew finds most of the colonists dead from rapid aging. On return to Enterprise the entire crew is infected with the disease—except Chekov, who was part of the away team. McCoy determines that the cure is adrenaline. Chekov was so shocked upon finding the dead bodies on the planet that his adrenaline provided an immunity to the disease. ( ) During shore leave on Deep Space K-7, Chekov, along with Uhura, brought one tribble to the Enterprise, which reproduced so fast that the ship became overrun with them in three days. ( ) Chekov, Kirk, and Uhura were captured by alien beings who used them in gladiatorial combat, which the beings wagered on. Such captured beings were known as "thralls." One of the thralls, Tamoon, who was assigned to train Chekov in gladiatorial combat, developed romantic feelings toward him, leading to many unwelcome advances. ( ) Chekov was left in charge of the Enterprise when Kirk, Spock and McCoy visited a primitive planet. While they are on the surface, a Klingon ship appears, and Chekov was able to hide the Enterprise from the Klingon ship. This not only protected the Enterprise, but also the away team. ( ) In 2268, Chekov was killed during a mission to make contact with the Melkotians. The Melkotians consider the humans as a disease that must be destroyed, and place them in a frontier setting during the time of Wyatt Earp. The away team fills the role of the Clantons, one of the two major groups involved at the OK Corral gunfight. Chekov is killed by one of the Earps over a girl named Sylvia, who was in love with him, and not the Earp that wanted her. Spock realized that this simulation was not real, and thus the away team could not be hurt as long as they did not believe in the illusion. After successfully escaping the illusory Wild West setting, the crew was transported back to the Enterprise, along with Chekov who was alive once again. ( ) Chekov was part of an away team that beamed aboard the starship , which was adrift in space. They discovered that the ship was dissolving. After beaming back to the Enterprise, Chekov attacked Spock in a fit of madness. The illness then spread throughout the ship. The dissolving of space was causing mental breakdowns in the crew. After rescuing Kirk, and escaping the Tholians, order is restored. ( ) In 2269, Chekov would once again encounter his lost love, Irina. Initially happy to see one another, Chekov adamantly disapproved of her new lifestyle and attempted to cast her off. She visited Chekov, who was working in Auxiliary Control assigned to help Spock locate Eden, to apologize for upsetting Pavel. Her ulterior motive, however, was to subtly use him to gain his knowledge of the systems of the ship, which were later used by Sevrin for hijacking the Enterprise. The two would leave each other once again, this time while saying "good-bye" to one another, as well as each with a better understanding of the other. ( ) Later in the year, Chekov was no longer the navigator on board the Enterprise, having been replaced by Arex. (Star Trek: The Animated Series) Later career Chekov in the 2270s]] By the early 2270s he had been promoted to lieutenant and served as the security chief and tactical officer of the refit Enterprise under the command of captain Willard Decker. Chekov's hands were severely burned when the ship was probed during its encounter with V'Ger. ( ) Chekov was later promoted to commander and assigned as first officer to under Captain Clark Terrell. In 2285, Reliant was on a mission to find a suitable planet to conduct trials with the Genesis Device. When they explored Ceti Alpha V, Chekov and Captain Terrell encountered Khan Noonien Singh and his augments. By putting Ceti eels inside their heads, Khan made them susceptible to his suggestions, his motive being to seek revenge on Admiral Kirk. Using Chekov and Terrell, Khan was able to seize the Reliant and subsequently steal the Genesis Device. After Captain Terrell's death, and the departure of the Ceti eel from his head, Chekov recovered in time to help defeat Khan in the battle of the Mutara Nebula. Afterward he assumed the post of Enterprise s acting science officer following the death of Captain Spock. ( ) Also in 2285, Chekov and his shipmates Kirk, Scotty, Sulu, and McCoy stole the Enterprise from Spacedock (with Uhura's help) in an attempt to recover a regenerated Spock from the Genesis Planet. The Enterprise was disabled by a Klingon Bird-of-Prey in orbit around the Genesis Planet, and was then self-destructed by Kirk (with help from Scotty and Chekov) to prevent its capture. Kirk and his crew later seized command of the Klingon ship, which they named the . The crew then transported the regenerated body of Spock to Vulcan, where the body would be reunited with his katra, which had been placed in McCoy. ( ) Using the slingshot effect, the Bounty went back in time to 1986, to transport two Humpback whales to the 23rd century. While on Earth, Chekov and Uhura were part of "Team 2," assigned to locating and acquiring photons for recrystallizing the dilithium crystals aboard the Bounty. Although the mission was a success in acquiring the necessary photons from the nuclear vessel, , Chekov was captured by the ship's security. Accused of being a "Russkie," Chekov made a failed escape attempt from the aircraft carrier, only to become critically injured when he fell over fifty feet from the ship's hangar deck, running through an open hatch that led out to one of the ship's massive aircraft elevators. Chekov was taken into emergency surgery at Mercy Hospital where he was diagnosed with a tearing of the middle meningeal artery after a fundoscopic examination. He would successfully be healed, narrowly escaping the removal of an Epidural hematoma by trepanation, and subsequently evacuated from the hospital by McCoy, Kirk and Gillian Taylor. Upon returning to the 23rd century, Chekov and his shipmates faced court martial for their actions. However, they were eventually cleared of all charges, and Chekov was reassigned as second officer, Navigator, and security chief on the . ( ) In 2287, Chekov took command of the Enterprise-A and posed as "Captain Chekov" as a ruse to negotiate with Sybok for the hostages that the renegade Vulcan took on Nimbus III, while Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and a security team landed on the planet covertly by shuttlecraft. Chekov successfully distracted Sybok long enough for the landing party to launch an attack on Paradise City. ( ) In early 2293, Chekov undertook his final voyage on the Enterprise-A as part of the mission to escort the Klingon Chancellor to peace negotiations with the Federation. Chekov used his investigative science background to find forensic evidence linked to a Federation-Klingon conspiracy attempting to undermine the peace talks. After the Khitomer Conference, Chekov's last duty on the Enterprise-A was to man navigation and the helm for her decommissioning cruise. ( ) In the latter part of 2293, Commander Chekov was a guest of honor aboard the new under the command of John Harriman. During the maiden voyage, Captain Kirk went missing (presumably swept into space) during a hull breach caused by a part of the Nexus energy ribbon when it collided with the Enterprise-B. ( ) Russian heritage Pavel was very proud of his heritage. He often noted (sometimes erroneously) that most great inventions and events ever noted in history came from his homeland, which both amused and annoyed his crewmates: * He claimed that the old Earth saying: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me," was invented in Russia. ( ) * He claimed that the English story about the Cheshire Cat was a Russian story about a disappearing cat from Minsk. ( ) * He was also known to have made references to Peter the Great. ( ) * He once sarcastically referred to himself as "the tsar of all the Russias" when meeting Apollo. ( ) * He claimed that the Garden of Eden was located just outside Moscow. He claimed that it was "a very nice place" and that "it must've made Adam and Eve very sad to leave." Which Kirk sarcastically responded with "Just..outside Moscow, all right" ( ) ]] * He claimed that the region surrounding Sherman's Planet was first mapped by the famous Russian astronomer Ivan Burkoff, when in fact, it was discovered by John Burke, of the Royal Academy. ( ) * He claimed that quadrotriticale was a Russian invention, when, in fact, it was invented in Canada. ( ) * He claimed that scotch was invented by a little old lady from Leningrad. ( ) * He was also fond of the Russian beverage vodka and referring to the Klingons, among other individuals, as Cossacks. ( ) * He once referred to Harry Mudd as an "unprincipled evil-minded lecherous Kulak." He then commented that planet Mudd was "even better than Leningrad." ( ) In addition to these, Captain Kirk once stopped Lieutenant Sulu mid-sentence, while Sulu was referencing an incident in Siberia, and told Sulu, "If I wanted a Russian history lesson, I would have brought Mr. Chekov." ( , in which Chekov himself did not appear) Biographical timeline * 2245 : Born in Russia, on Earth * ca. 2263 : Enrolls at Starfleet Academy, later graduates with the rank of ensign * ca. 2267 : Assigned to as navigator and relief science officer * 2270 : The Enterprise's five-year mission ends. * Early 2270s : Joins the refit Enterprise crew as lieutenant, assigned as security chief * 2285 : Assigned to as commander, first officer. Assignment ends when the vessel is destroyed by Khan Noonien Singh. Chekov participates in the theft and destruction of Enterprise, and flees with Admiral Kirk's party to Vulcan * 2286 : Charges against the crew and Chekov are dropped, Chekov becomes security chief of *2287 : Temporarily in command of the Enterprise-A, acts as captain to negotiate with Sybok at Nimbus III *2293 : After helping to solve the Khitomer Conspiracy, Chekov's assignment to the Enterprise-A ends when the vessel is scheduled for retirement. Chekov is a guest on board the new Enterprise-B. Appendices Appearances * ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * Star Trek films: ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * (archived footage) Background Chekov was played by Walter Koenig, who joined the cast of Star Trek at the beginning of TOS Season 2, and filled in what were originally intended to be roles for Hikaru Sulu while George Takei spent much of this time involved in filming The Green Berets during Season 2. ("To Boldly Go...": Season 2, TOS Season 2 DVD special features) According to Gene L. Coon in his The Making of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry wanted to add in a young, British character to appeal to younger demographics. However, he received a written complaint from Russian sources, who complained that Star Trek—though trying to fashion a future where the world was united—was ignoring the USSR, which, at the time, was the leader in the Space Race. Roddenberry soon after altered his British youth into Pavel. On the video release of "William Shatner's Star Trek Memories," Walter Koenig himself said that the Russians didn't say anything about there being no Russians on Enterprise and the article that Roddenberry and Coon referred to likely didn't exist because at the height of the Cold War, no American programming was airing in Russia. (Allan Asherman's The Star Trek Compendium says that the Pravda journalist "had seen a Star Trek episode televised in Germany", but Star Trek didn't air in Germany until 1972.) According to Koenig, the character was added to add -like appeal to the show and that the Russian heritage was added by Roddenberry indeed because he wanted to honor the fact that the Russians were the first people in space. In his first couple of episodes, Koenig indeed wore a style wig to look more like Davy Jones. ("To Boldly Go...": Season 2, TOS Season 2 DVD special features) (Ironically, during the time of TOS in the late 1960s, Soviet teens sporting this look, derisively called "haries" and viewed as dangerously rebellious by their elders, were often arrested and had their hair cut off by the police.) http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2003/aug/08/thebeatles Chekov was the only main character from Star Trek not to appear in Star Trek: The Animated Series, due to budgetary constraints. (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, p. 422) Nevertheless StarTrek.com has a TAS Chekov biography page explaining what he was up to away from the Enterprise in the years of The Animated Series. Koenig, however, was not entirely absent from the series; he did provide the script for . In , Chekov was briefly referred to as "Captain Chekov" by one of the reporters on the Enterprise-B. Chekov was referred to in the script as "Commander," and was still wearing a Commander's pin. Apocrypha In the Eleventh UK Annual Story, Chekov says that he took the same radio courses as Uhura, presumably at Starfleet Academy. In the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy game, Chekov claims he was stationed on planet Benderi IV prior to joining the Enterprise where he had a commanding officer who believed getting angry was unprofessional and bottled up her rage until it exploded. After Chekov's final appearance in Generations (circa 2293), and the reference that a starship would be named after him by 2367, no canon information exists on how he lived out the rest of his days, or what fate he met. According to "The Sundered," the first book in the Star Trek: The Lost Era series, Chekov serves as executive officer of the from 2293 through at least part of 2298. Chekov is mentioned in TNG-era novels from Pocket Books, such as Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens's "Federation." That novel mentioned him becoming an admiral after commanding both the and USS Cydonia. The Reeves-Stevenses collaborated with William Shatner on "The Return," which goes so far as to indicate that Chekov became Fleet Admiral. In "Exodus," a novel in the Star Trek: Vulcan's Soul series by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz, there is a plot thread that indicates Chekov may still be alive by the time of the Dominion War, as well as Admiral Uhura. External links * * * de:Pavel Andreievich Chekov eo:Pavel Chekov es:Pavel Chekov fr:Pavel Chekov it:Pavel Chekov nl:Pavel Chekov Chekov, Pavel Chekov, Pavel Chekov, Pavel Chekov, Pavel Chekov, Pavel